The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will deploy 4097 teachers to the Special Needs Education (SNE) centres in a bid to address the biting shortage.
In a deal signed between Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET) and Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the teachers who were initially attached to special schools but transferred to regular schools will now be transferred back.
This was agreed during a meeting in Naivasha last week, which brought together KUSNET, regular teacher unions and the TSC.
The teacher employer agreed to deploy the teachers in phases at the start of second term of this year. The first batch will consist of 1750 teachers. The second batch will be done in December comprising of 2000 teachers and the last phase will affect 347 teachers who were initially in special schools but moved to regular schools.
Peter Sitienei, KUSNET chairman, said by adding more teachers to SNE schools which currently stands at 300 primary and 38 secondary schools, improvement of standards in special schools will be seen.
He added that teachers in special units in regular schools will be exempted from other responsibilities to fully concentrate on learners with special needs.
Sitienei urged the government to devolve SNE schools so as to assess special needs children at the county level.
“Special needs children need to be assessed at the county level, hence the need to develop devolved units of cycle education centres in all our counties. This will require a lot of manpower, finances and reorganization since teachers are required to pay full attention to the learners so that the curriculum can be delivered effectively,” Sitienei said.
TSC agreed to establish an SNE section at its headquarters, staffed with personnel knowledgeable in SNE matters.
The chairman urged teachers in regular schools to apply for redeployment to SNE institutions.
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By Brian Ndigo
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